Abstract/Description

Notes

Things have been looking black for coffee of late. This delectable berry, known to Ethiopian drinkers for more than 500 years, has never had a crisis like that of 2002 before. Even the very conservative Forbes Magazine recently ran a long, indignant article about the intolerable depths to which the market had sunk, starving small coffee farmers and their families.
Whence have we come, and where should we go? These are the two key questions raised with great clarity in this excellent bilingual issue of a journal published by CIRAD, the international centre of agricultural research for development. Separate chapters are devoted to issues of quality, fair trade, sustainability, plant breeding and biological pest control. Special attention is paid to the links in the coffee chain and the impact of newcomer producers, particularly those in Viet Nam.
If you work in coffee, you could find comfort in this journal. If you like risks and adventure, you will find some useful ideas for playing the market. Otherwise, stand back. Even if the world continues to drink its 1,500,000,000 daily cups of coffee, the future of this noble plant is none too sure.
Research and coffee cultivation
Special issue of the Plantations, recherche, développement journal, CIRAD, Montpellier, France, 2002. 156 pp.
ISSN 1254-7670
Euro 23 (+ postage)
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Email: librairie@cirad.fr